.NET SDK

RudderStack’s .NET SDK lets you track your customer event data from your .NET applications and send it to your specified destinations via RudderStack.

Refer to the SDK’s GitHub codebase for the implementation-specific details.

SDK setup requirements

1. Sign up to RudderStack Cloud.
2. Set up a .NET source in your dashboard. You should be able to see a write key for this source:

• You will also need a data plane URL. Refer to the Dashboard Overview for more information on the data plane URL and where to find it.

Installing the .NET SDK

You can use NuGet to install the .NET SDK into your project.

Install-Package RudderAnalytics -Version 2.0.0

The SDK uses the Newton.JSON library for JSON processing.

Initializing the SDK

To initialize the SDK asynchronously (default behavior), run the following code snippet:

using RudderStack;

RudderAnalytics.Initialize(
    WRITE_KEY,
    new RudderConfig(dataPlaneUrl: DATA_PLANE_URL)
);

To send events synchronously, initialize the SDK as shown:

using RudderStack;

RudderAnalytics.Initialize(
    WRITE_KEY,
    new RudderConfig(dataPlaneUrl: DATA_PLANE_URL, async: false)
);

When initialized in synchronous mode, the .NET SDK sends each event as a single batch. In asynchronous mode, it groups events together and sends them to the backend as a single batch.

Gzipping requests

The Gzip feature is enabled by default in the .NET SDK from version 2.0.0

The .NET SDK automatically gzips requests. However, you can disable this by setting the gzip parameter of RudderConfig to false while initializing the SDK:

using RudderStack;
RudderAnalytics.Initialize(
    WRITE_KEY,
    new RudderConfig(dataPlaneUrl: DATA_PLANE_URL, gzip: false)
);

Gzip requires rudder-server v1.4 or higher. Otherwise, your events might fail.

Sending events

RudderStack does not store or persist the user state in any of the server-side SDKs.

Unlike the client-side SDKs that deal with only a single user at a given time, the server-side SDKs deal with multiple users simultaneously. Therefore, you must specify either userId or anonymousId every time while making any API calls supported by the .NET SDK.

Identify

The identify call lets you identify a visiting user and associate them to their actions. It also lets you record the traits about them like their name, email address, etc.

A sample identify call made using the .NET SDK is shown below:

RudderAnalytics.Client.Identify(
    "1hKOmRA4GRlm",
    new Dictionary<string, object> { {"subscription", "inactive"}, }
);

The identify method parameters are as described below:

See the options parameter section for more information on the options object and its fields.

Track

The track call lets you record the user actions along with their associated properties. Each user action is called an event.

A sample track call is shown below:

RudderAnalytics.Client.Track(
    "1hKOmRA4GRlm",
    "CTA Clicked",
    new Dictionary<string, object> {  {"plan", "premium"}, }
);

The track method parameters are as described below:

See the options parameter section for more information on the options object and its fields.

Page

The page call lets you record the page views on your application along with the other relevant information about the page.

A sample page call is as shown:

RudderAnalytics.Client.Page(
    "1hKOmRA4GRlm",
    "Sign Up",
    new Dictionary<string, object> { {"url", "https://wwww.example.com/sign-up"}, }
);

The page method parameters are as described below:

See the options parameter section for more information on the options object and its fields.

Screen

The screen call is the mobile equivalent of the page call. It allows you to record the screen views on your mobile app along with the other relevant information about the app screen.

A sample screen call is as shown:

RudderAnalytics.Client.Screen(
    "1hKOmRA4GRlm",
    "Dashboard",
    new Dictionary<string, object> { {"name", "Paid Dashboard"}, }
);

The screen method parameters are as described below:

See the options parameter section for more information on the options object and its fields.

Group

The group call lets you link an identified user with a group, such as a company, organization, or an account. It also lets you record any custom traits or properties associated with that group.

A sample group call made using the .NET SDK is shown below:

RudderAnalytics.Client.Group(
    "1hKOmRA4GRlm",
    "12",
    new Dictionary<string, object> { {"role", "Owner"}, }
);

The group method parameters are as follows:

See the options parameter section for more information on the options object and its fields.

Alias

The alias call lets you merge different identities of a known user. It is an advanced method that lets you change the tracked user’s ID explicitly. You can use alias for managing the user’s identity in some of the downstream destinations.

RudderStack supports sending alias events only to select downstream destinations. Refer to the destination-specific documentation for more details.

A sample alias call is as shown:

RudderAnalytics.Client.Alias("1hKOmRA4GRlm", "12345");

The alias method parameters are as mentioned below:

See the options parameter section for more information on the options object and its fields.

Options parameter

The options object contains the following fields:

Flushing events

To make sure no events are left in the queue, you can flush the events explicitly by using the SDK’s flush() method.

RudderAnalytics.Client.Flush();

You cannot call the flush() method again until all messages are flushed from the queue.

Logging

The .NET SDK supports detailed logging. You can enable this feature as shown:

using RudderStack;

Logger.Handlers += LoggingHandler;

static void LoggingHandler(Logger.Level level, string message, IDictionary<string, object> args)
{
    if (args != null)
    {
        foreach (string key in args.Keys)
        {
            message += String.Format(" {0}: {1},", "" + key, "" + args[key]);
        }
    }
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("[RudderAnalytics] [{0}] {1}", level, message));
}

The logger must be on a minimum version of .NET Core 2.1.

FAQ

How does the .NET SDK handle events larger than 32KB?

If you are running the .NET SDK asynchronously, RudderStack drops any events greater than 32KB.

For synchronous initialization, the SDK accepts and sends each event greater than 32KB as a single batch and sends them to the RudderStack data plane (backend).

Does the .NET SDK support event ordering?

The .NET SDK does not support event ordering by default.

Questions? Contact us by email or on Slack